Minister's name The Hon Martin Pakula MP
Portfolios Attorney-General and Minister for Racing
Did the minister's spouse accompany the minister in an official capacity? No
Accompanying Ministerial Staff Chief of Staff
Countries visited  South Korea
Date of travel 13 May 2018 - 18 May 2018
Number of official travel days (including day of departure and day of return) 6 days
Funding source (list department/s or agency) Department of Justice and Regulation
Air fares (including taxes and fees) $10,318.76
Accommodation (including taxes and fees) $4,200.20
Other expenses (including surface travel and travel allowances) $10,018.10
Travel costs for Minister and ministerial staff $24,537.06*

* The above costs are final and complete.

Purpose of travel

The key activities of the travel will include:

  • attending the bi-annual Asian Racing Conference
  • meeting with key Asian Racing Federation Officials
  • meeting with the Attorney-General's equivalent in South Korea. 

Benefits of travel to the State of Victoria

Victoria's racing industry is a major economic driver for this state. Racing contributes $2.8 billion annually in economic activity to Victoria and has over 114,000 people directly involved as employees and participants.

The Asian Racing Conference is a biennial event organise by the Asian Racing Federation, which is comprised of the leading horse racing countries throughout Asia as well as South Africa and Arabia. Australia, along with Hong Kong and Japan, is a major jurisdiction within the federation. The conference tackled significant issues for all horse racing jurisdictions including integrity structures, equine welfare, the modern wagering landscape and illegal betting.

The South Korean racing industry is among the fastest developing in the world. Prize money and betting turnover per race exceed Victoria, and the quality of racing continues to improve. The industry structure has many similarities to other South East Asian jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, which all have very close and mutually beneficial ties to Victorian racing.

Horse racing is extremely popular in South Korea and the Korean Racing Authority has successfully developed its customer and participant facilities to a very high standard, offering the opportunity to take learnings from the infrastructure and technology developments that have taken place there in recent years.

Korea has a fundamentally different approach to betting on horse racing, with betting only allowed on the race course or at one of the 30 designated off-course betting outlets. Again this structure is similar to other leading South East Asian jurisdictions.

It is critical to understand the advantages and challenges of this more closed approach, as racing authorities and governments around the world continue to face the fast evolving racing and sports wagering industry, and the rise of illegal online betting on horse racing.

The visit to the Republic of Korea commenced with a meeting with Mr James Choi, Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. Mr Choi and some of his key staff provided an economic and cultural briefing in relation to the Republic of Korea and a briefing regarding the relationship between the two countries.

The Attorney-General also met with Lee Keum-ro, Vice Minister, Ministry of Justice to share experiences of the justice system in the Republic of Korea and Victoria. The meeting included a wide ranging discussion regarding criminal prosecution, mediation in criminal cases and parole. Commercial arbitration is used extensively in the Republic of Korea to resolve disputes and the Attorney-General was briefed on how the Korean Commercial Arbitration board operates.

The Asian Racing Federation (ARF) is the peak regional body for thoroughbred racing in Asia, Australasia, Arabia and South Africa and it promotes the internationalisation of racing. The ARF's objectives include the exchange of ideas and information on matters connected with horseracing and develop mutually beneficial strategies between racing organisations throughout the region to aid the development of horseracing.

A meeting with Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chairman, and Mr Andrew Harding, Secretary General of the ARF, provided an opportunity to discuss a range of matters of mutual interest including restrictions on international horse movements, illegal online wagering, racing integrity and international broadcasting.

As well as providing considerable networking opportunities, the extensive Conference program included a number of Plenary sessions of particular interest in the Victorian context. Highlights of the conference included:

  • International experts including Victoria's Justice Jack Forrest outlined the challenges faced in maintaining public trust in wagering products and detailed a range of strategies that are currently being applied in the horse racing industry to continually improve integrity processes.
  • Global wagering leaders outlining strategies for responding o the key issue facing the wagering industry included increased digitisation and internationalisation of betting markets.

Next steps / follow up

Events such as the Asian Racing Conference provide an ideal opportunity for relationship building and best practice exchanges in the international racing industry. Participation at these events helps to cement Victoria's reputation as a leading racing jurisdiction in the Asia region. The Minister will continue to work with the Victorian racing industry to promote Victorian racing on the international stage. 

The Office of Racing will continue to work with the racing industry stakeholders and other government agencies to support efforts to promote Victorian racing and encourage continued and further international participation in key Victorian racing carnivals.